The 2002 campaign at Khor Rori, Oman - Università degli Studi di Pisa

The goal of the campaign of 2002 was to determinate the character of the buildings in the area A (area of the Gate Complex and the Monumental Building) and to re-excavate the small second entrance (so called "gate to the sea"), placed in the south-eastern corner of the city (Area B).
The architectonical lay-out of the residential area was cleared with the completion of excavation in buildings BA2 and BA3 and with the beginning of researches in BA4 and BA5.
BA2 is one of the earliest structures discovered in Sumhuram and the digging of the building was possible removing parts of BA3, constructed later in the same area. BA2 provided important findings which gave some ideas about the possible function of the building. The presence of a large number of stone tools (hammerstones, anvils), the traces of intensive fire with lenses of ashes and the big quantity of metal objects (hoes, slag and perforating tools) let us to interpret the building as a blacksmith workshop.
BA4 was already partially excavated by Albright and during this campaign just one third of the complex was individuated. Also this building was constructed during the earliest phase of Sumhuram, contemporary to the gate complex. It's not clear, instead, when BA5 was constructed, but during the second period it was definitely in use. It's clear that it was totally demolished by the construction of floor US22 which covers the remains of the structure in square A8.
On the other hand the cleansing of the south-eastern corner of the defence wall allows to determinate the architectural lay-out of the small gate constituted by two wooden doors, placed inside and outside the gates. Both the doors had stone doorsteps and were connected by the passage constructed in the body of the wall, made of packed earth. Remains of a structure were discovered next to the outer door.